Research Associate / Research Assistant PhD
Department of Linguistics, Istanbul University. Research across AI, morphosyntax, and semantics; undergraduate and graduate teaching; student mentoring and research supervision.
Experience & academic record
Across academia
& AI
My work spans university research and teaching, psycholinguistic visiting research, multilingual AI evaluation, human-data quality, and academic service. This page follows my current CV and separates continuing roles from completed engagements.
Academic appointments & visits
Research across institutions
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
Research project: Mental simulation, space and language: Insights from fictive motion expressions in Turkish and English.
Visiting Researcher
Two doctoral research visits to Syracuse University’s Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, supervised by Prof. Jaklin Kornfilt.
Industry & applied AI
Human data, evaluation & quality
Remote engagements focused on Turkish language data, linguistically informed model evaluation, annotation quality, and benchmark design.
Language Expert, Human Data / Human-AI Interaction
OpenAI, through a vendor. Drafted language tasks and answer keys/rationales, with emphasis on grammar, cultural sensitivity, and contextual accuracy.
AI Trainer · Domain Expert in Linguistics
Mindrift–Toloka. Built linguistics-focused training content, prompts and evaluations; developed annotation guidelines, performed QC, and generated synthetic data.
AI Data Quality & Evaluation Specialist
Outlier · Turkish language. Designed prompts, evaluated and refined model inputs/outputs, curated data, developed guidelines, and performed quality control.
QA Evaluator · Turkish LLM Benchmarking
METU. Evaluates benchmark data including Wikipedia-based annotated NER and XCOPA; contributes guidelines, annotated-corpus QC, and qualitative/quantitative evaluation.
Language Data Assistant
Lausanne Business Solutions. Transcribed, annotated, tagged, and validated Turkish chatbot data; worked with RLHF and TTS/STT controls and annotation instructions.
Evaluation craft
Across these roles: prompt design, rubric and guideline development, human/model output evaluation, synthetic data, cultural accuracy, and quality assurance.
Education
Academic foundations
PhD in Linguistics · Hacettepe University
GPA 3.57/4.00 · Dissertation: Motion Predicates in Turkish: A Morpho-Syntactic Treatment
MA in Linguistics · Hacettepe University
GPA 3.64/4.00 · Thesis on the system of personal name signs in Turkish Sign Language (TİD)
BA in English Linguistics · Hacettepe University
GPA 3.85/4.00 · Top Student of the Faculty Award
Funding & recognition
Scholarships & awards
TÜBİTAK support spans master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral stages.
TÜBİTAK National Scholarship Program for Postdoctoral Researchers
2219-supported University of Birmingham project · Individual project / PI · £18,450
TÜBİTAK National Scholarship Program for Doctorate Students
Doctoral scholarship support
TÜBİTAK National Scholarship Program for Master’s Students
Master’s scholarship support
İhsan Doğramacı High Honor Award
Hacettepe University
Top Student Award in the Faculty of Letters
Hacettepe University
Academic citizenship
Reviewing, service & memberships
Peer review, departmental and editorial service, conference organisation, and professional-society participation.
Journals & conferences
- AIES 2026 · 5 submissions
- SCiL 2026 · 3 submissions
- AIES 2025 · 3 full-length proceedings submissions
- IRAL 2025 · 1 manuscript
- Foreign Language Annals 2023 · 2 manuscripts
Department & editorial
- ERASMUS Departmental Advisor · Istanbul University · 2021–Present
- Editorial Board · Journal of Linguistics, Istanbul University Press · 2021–Present
- Advisor, Student Club in Linguistics · 2020–Present
Academic events
- Organising Committee · ASIALEX 2019 · Istanbul University
- Organising Committee · Language and Society Workshop · Hacettepe University · 2017
Professional societies
- Association for Computational Linguistics · 2024–Present
- Cognitive Science Society · 2024–Present
- Linguistic Society of America · 2018–Present
Methods & tools
Technical profile
Programming & analysis
Python (NumPy, scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Pandas), RStudio, Tableau, and E-Prime.
AI & language technology
LLMs, NLP, annotation tools, and Stable Diffusion Cloud (Automatic1111).
Languages
Turkish · Native
English · Advanced
German · Beginner
Russian · Beginner
Research methods
Annotation and corpus QC, qualitative and quantitative evaluation, self-paced reading, picture elicitation, and eye-tracking research.
Professional learning
Certifications
All certifications currently listed in my CV.
- Building a Responsible AI Program: Context, Culture, Content, and Commitment · LinkedIn
- Securing Generative AI: Strategies, Methodologies, Tools, and Best Practices · LinkedIn
- Fundamentals of Agentic AI: Business Implications and Ethical Insights · LinkedIn
- Artificial General Intelligence: The Technology, Impact, and Ethics · LinkedIn
- Ethics in the Age of Generative AI · NASBA and QAS
- Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity · PMI
- Introduction to Generative AI
- Introduction to Large Language Models
- Introduction to Responsible AI
- Applying AI Principles with Google Cloud
- Prompt Design in Vertex AI
- Project Management Fundamentals · IBM
- Data Fundamentals · IBM
- Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals · IBM
- Introduction to Data Science · Cisco
- Data Analytics Essentials · Cisco
- Projects with Python, TensorFlow, and NLTK · LinkedIn
- Text Analytics and Predictions with Python Essential Training · LinkedIn
Research · collaboration · evaluation